pig planting

[dirtpoor]

Hmmm... just a thought and I know it's probably illegal, but when I lived in Arkansas I knew some guy's who deceided to populate an area that they loved to hunt but didn't have a good population of hog's (public land) so they chipped in and bought 2 boar's and 8 sow's kept them in a pen for thirty day's until most of the sow's were pregnant and then released them in the area that needed more huntable hog's. they planted them after deer season so that they wouldn't get shot by deer hunter's and according to them in 2 years they had hog's up the wazoo. I'm not advocating anything illegal, but it seem's to me that the pig tag money keep's going up and fish and game do nothing for us public land hunter's except take advantage of our situation.

 

[bayedsolid]

I've always thought that the least the state could do with the hogs they pay to have trapped and killed out of the parks would be to release them on some public ground. Too expensive I guess....and the fact that nobody really likes hogs (forest service, BLM, parks service, etc..).

 

[BOWUNTR]

It's been done several times in So Ca. Santa Ana River, Mojave River and Banning has been stocked (illegally) with wild hogs. They are flourishing and being controlled by tax dollars, not hunting license dollars. Be careful in what you do. It might backfire. Ed F

 

[Cahunter]

I would love to see them do that. Start with cottenwood then you could move on to camp BOB. I have talked to my buddy, he has a ranch near stoneyford, about doing that very thing. There are a few hogs on his ranch but not enough.

 

[MikenSoCo]

Sounds great but it won't happen. They would never introduce a non-indigenious species into an area devoid of them. Look at the turkey planting debate......

 

[superduty]

If sombody would illegaly plant wild pigs on public land then I would be the first to help out the state with some deprovation problems.

I know a lay of land not too far from me that every time I drive by with the wife I say "boy, wouldn't it be nice if there was pigs on that property?" I don't think the residence in the area and the cattle ranchers would take too well to it. Most of California mentality this far Southern is anti anyways.

 

[Rancho Loco]

Invasive introduced species..
Not a good idea, and yes it would be illegal.

 

[BGH831]

The pigs are doing to much damage to the state to ever think they would advocate planting as of now eradication is on the playbook no proliferation.
Kill em' all then take up squierll shooting

 

[larrysogla]

Pig introduction in pig-free areas of California are illegal. However, there have been pig harvests in some previously pig-free area like the Silverwood Lake area in the San Bernardino Nat. Forest. However, most pigs will be hunted down, killed & harvested before a truly viable population can take hold. There are some small populations in the Mojave River Drainage between Hesperia & the SBNF & a pig population in the Santa Ana river in Orange County. The Mojave population is hampered by the arid area & the Santa Ana River is a no hunting area.

 

[Loye]

They stock trout. Why not stock pigs ?

 

[Rancho Loco]

Let's put it another way..

Why don't they stock Northern Pike?

 

[boarhunter67]

I know where I live some hogs mysteriously made it onto public land out in the water district. The DFG were eventually called and they hired someone to come in and erradicate them. Most of the hunters were pretty upset about taxpayer money being used to get rid of hunting possibilities. Somewhere close to 300 pigs were killed. I heard they just left the pigs to rot. The property they were on is just fields and wetlands.

 

[Speckmisser]

Besides being illegal, planting on public land would more than likely only result in the pigs moving to private land.

The problem now isn't so much that there aren't any hogs on public land, but that the habitat to hold them isn't there. For the most part, huntable public lands in CA can't compete with nearby farmlands for food and water sources.

Add to that the pressure that productive public land gets (word gets out, no matter how well you can keep a secret), and I'd lay good odds that if you plant hogs they won't stay on that public land very long. They'll go where there's less pressure and better feed/water.

The bright side, for those who don't have an issue with an invasive, non-native species, is that the hogs are taking care of distributing themselves pretty well. They're showing up in the Sierra foothills. Hogs have moved along the coast, all the way up to Oregon. I believe that only the urban sprawl of LA and the adjacent desert is keeping them from spreading down south.

The Central Coast still has the highest kill percentage, but many other counties are moving up at a respectable clip, and counties that never showed up on the hunter's "report card" are being added to the list.

 

[BobcatJess]

Well said Speckmisser!!